Write 600-800 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions with your classmates.

Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.

Library Assignment

Read the assigned chapters from the text, professional quality sources to describe how social media are used to reach current and potential customers.

With an understanding that social media have transformed the way companies interact with customers across all demographic segments, address the following discussion points:

What are the differences between traditional marketing and marketing with social media?

How is the message conveyed differently between traditional media and social media?

Should the message be tailored to different demographic groups? Why?

You are required to write in an integrative manner that fully explores each discussion point, provides a thorough analysis of each, and uses research. All research is to be cited in the discussion and listed at the end of your post. A minimum of 3 scholarly or professional business references for support are required.

Note: Research is to be academic or professional in scope. Use of blogs, personal Web sites, corporate Web sites, wikis, or other social-media-related sources are not acceptable.

Assignment Objectives

Recognize the different uses of social media and the impact on individuals, groups, and society

Describe the various ways businesses are using social media to achieve goals and objectives

THE OLD RULES OF MARKETING AND PR ARE INEFFECTIVE IN AN ONLINE WORLD

As I write this, I am considering buying a new car. As it is for billions of other global consumers, the web is my primary source of information when I consider a purchase. So I sat down at the computer and began poking around.

Figuring they were the natural place to begin my research, I started with some major automaker sites. That was a big mistake. I was assaulted on the homepages with a barrage of TV-style broadcast advertising. And most of the one-way messages focused on price. For example, at the end of 2016 at Ford,1the all-capital-letters headline screamed, "YEAR END EVENT FINAL DAYS. UP to $1,500 TOTAL CASH." Dodge2announced a similar offer: "BIG FINISH 2016. GET 20% OFF MSRP." Other manufacturers touted similar flashy offers.

I'm not planning to buy a car in the next 100 hours, thank you. I may not even buy one within 100 days! I'm just kicking the virtual tires. These sites and most others assume that I'm ready to buy a car right now. But I actually just wanted to learn something. Sure, I got graphics and animation, TV commercials, pretty pictures, and low financing offers on these sites, but little else.

I looked around for some personality on these sites and didn't find much, because the automaker websites portray their organizations as nameless, faceless corporations. In fact, the sites I looked at are so similar that they're effectively interchangeable. At each site, I felt as if I was being marketed to with a string of messages that had been developed in a lab or via focus 16groups. It just didn't feel authentic. If I wanted to see car TV ads, I would have flipped on the TV. I was struck with the odd feeling that all large automakers' sites were designed and built by the same Madison Avenue ad guy. These sites were advertising tome, not building a relationship withme. They were luring me in with one-way messages, not educating me about the companies' products. Guess what? When

THE NEW RULES OF MARKETING AND PR

My wife, Yukari, was checking out her Twitter stream one day and noticed that someone she follows tweeted about Hotel & Igloo Village Kakslauttanen.1Yukari clicked the link and learned that the resort is located in the Saariselkä fell area of Lapland in northern Finland. In winter, you can stay there in a private glass igloo, which means that from bed you can check out the stars (or, if you are lucky, the aurora borealis). She found this terribly exciting, so she tweeted a response from her Twitter ID, @yukariwatanabe: "I want to go there!"

We discussed the resort that evening over dinner. Why not go? Our daughter was off to university, so we had the time. The next day we booked the trip for several months later. Done deal.

Now, I know that a winter vacation above the Arctic Circle might seem like a punch line to a bad joke. Heck, the sun didn't even rise when we were there in mid-December (the "day" consists of just four hours of twilight at that time of year). But for us it seemed perfect, because we've traveled all over the world and are always looking for unusual adventures.

How did we know that we wanted to go? By the resort's website, of course. The site lists all sorts of winter activities for guests. When I saw "Husky Sledding Safari," I was ready to pack my bags (bucket list...). But Yukari wanted to do a little more checking, so she Googled the resort, looked at the reviews on TripAdvisor, and also read about it in a New York Timesarticle.

Everybody I know has a story like this. Somebody makes a comment via a social network site. It leads someone else to a website where the content educates and informs. And that person ends up becoming a customer of a company that he or she had never heard of moments before. We're living in a new world of marketing and PR.

If you are the seller in this transaction, it all comes down to content: What are you creating, compared to what are others saying about you?